


Slow Burn Treason

by selfdiscovered



Category: Sailor Moon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Developing Relationship, F/F, Female Protagonist, Growing Up, Racing, Self-Discovery, Swim Team, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 18:08:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/selfdiscovered/pseuds/selfdiscovered
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaiou Michiru has a dream, a dream to become a famous violinist someday, or at least that's what she thinks she wants. Her parents have always pressured her to be the very best and most would say she's accomplished that. Not only is Michiru a violinist, she also is an important member of her swim team as well as an extremely gifted artist. People call her the model student, or at least the adults do. The students around her tend to leave her alone, are almost intimidated and it makes Michiru realize how different she really is. She wants something to change in her life and she finds just that one day walking home. She learns about a racer named Tenoh Haruka and enters the world of professional racing, new found friends and love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Wow so here it is, my first story here on AO3. I'm pretty excited about it and hope that you guys are looking forward to read it? I've loved Sailor Moon my whole life and recently been kind of re-living my childhood watching it, so I decided to take my favorite pairing and write a fan fiction. I spent a long time agonizing over if I should have the Sailor Senshi involved or not, as well as what characters I'll ultimately use in the series. As for now, I do not plan for the Sailor Senshi to be involved, but that might change over the coarse of the story! As well as introduction to more canon characters! So for now, lets just say it's an AU without all the canon shenanigans, it's still pretty early in the story to decide right away though!

There was always something magic about being in the water. The way when her head dipped under the surface she felt as if everything was endless. She would float there, her eyes pressed closed, and she would imagine fish around her. The salty water kissing her lips, the feeling of being acutely aware of everything…and alive. She would think about all of this in a moment and then she would lose her breath, having no choice but to resurface. As she broke though the water and back to reality her eyes opened and took in the building she was in. The school’s pool was her home as much as it wasn’t. A familiar comfort, but also that of a complete stranger. She had spent a lifetime in this place, submerging herself under the water and dreaming of the ocean.   
“Michiru!” Her name is called, it echoes off the walls making her feel so much smaller than she is. She pulls herself from the water, her feet meet the deck. She reaches for a towel and quickly works at drying her long aqua colored hair. As she does this she turns to look at the woman she recognizes as her Swim Coach.   
“Coach.” She addresses, taking her towel and wrapping it around her waist securely.   
“You’re here late again.” Coach notes. “Practice ended a while ago you know.” Michiru smiles and walks toward her coach.  
“I like the water, but you’re right. I’m here late, I should get going.”   
“You don’t have to go.” Michiru stops walking as coach talks. “Actually it’s a comfort to see someone as serious as you. Someone who actually really cares about the sport.”   
Michiru almost comments, but she holds her tongue. She wonders what it is adults see in her. Why they see it. Coach has always been supportive of her during the years of swimming and she does appreciate it. It’s nice to have an adult who supports her without applying pressure on her to be perfect. Still that doesn’t change how she’s been feeling about the team in general. The thing is, Michiru has lost something in all this time being at this school. The only reason she finds herself even keeping up with the team anymore is that she doesn’t know how to leave. She loves swimming, but doesn’t love swimming like this. The only part she looks forward to is the chance she gets to lose herself in the water, the part of her that dreams of the ocean. But she isn’t in the ocean; she’s in the school pool, a pool full of chlorine and boxed in. And boy, she’s never felt so lost.  
“Thanks coach.” She murmurs while passing her and heading into the locker room.   
As she changes back into her school uniform, Michiru pulls her still damp hair back into a ponytail. She leans down and adjusts her shoes before walking over to the mirror. She drops the towel in the hamper that the assistant coach will eventually come and throw in the wash and then finds herself looking in the mirror. Her blue eyes stare intently as her mind wanders.   
She has been at this school her whole life, going through the motions. She’s so wore down, it’s not that she hates it, but she just wonders about what else is out there. She’s been on swim team since she was young, playing the violin since she was young, painting since she was young. Her life seems as if it’s been a constant, something without change. She feels a pang in her heart, a longing, one that clearly shows across her face. Something needs to change, but she just isn’t sure what that something is.   
Michiru grabs her backpack and hoists it over her shoulders, then she heads out. The walk home isn’t terrible, she likes the exercise it feels nice on her legs. The school is in Tokyo, right smack in the middle of the big city. She has eleven blocks to walk before she gets home, which isn’t as terrible as people may suspect. She gets to pass by lots of shops and various restaurants, most of which she’s never been to. There are always a lot of people milling about of course, some look at her, just a glance in her direction, but no one really sees her. She finds herself wondering about how life got like this. When she was young she had been content in just doing what she was told, she didn’t mind not goofing off with others kids because the other kids didn’t like her much. Over the years it got harder though, she wanted a change. Any change, just something. She wanted a close friend, someone to join her in this life. Everyone seemed to leave her alone though, as if they just figured she wanted to be by herself. Or they were just intimidated, which almost was even lonelier.   
She turns the corner around the square; it’s a popular sight, a huge green area in the middle of so many gray and dull buildings. Events are always going on here and as usual she notices a bit of a crowd. People have cameras out, the flashes going off every second, as she walks a women faces her just as she snaps a picture. The flash in her eyes surprises Michiru, she stumbles back but thankfully regains her posture quickly.   
“Sorry miss.” The woman says, rushing past her and back into the throngs of the crowd. Michiru pauses to listen to a bit of the chatter. Everyone is talking about someone named Haruka Tenoh, but she has no idea who that is. She isn’t took keen on sticking around to really find out, so she shrugs her shoulders, turns on her heel and leaves.   
She walks into her house, it’s silent as usual. Both her parents work late and even then are usually out of town, she’s gotten pretty used to being alone most of the time. Curiosity is eating away at her though; she heads up to her room and drops her backpack to the floor near her desk. She then takes a seat, pressing the button to boot up her computer.  
As it loads up she hums to herself, then when it’s on she moves her hand to the mouse and clicks open the browser window. She types in the name Haruka Tenoh just to see what pops up, not that she’s usually compelled to search up on celebrities, but this was a bit different. She waits a couple seconds then clicks on images and stares at the screen a moment. Haruka Tenoh was handsome, that was the first thing she noticed. The next thing was that she obviously was in sports; there were pictures from different races, then of Haruka running track and in interviews. One thing was for sure, that Haruka was a bit of a deal and Michiru was surprised that she hadn’t heard of her until now. Her chest seemed to tighten the more she scrolled through the images, she clicked back on the search tab and opened up a little biography.   
Haruka was a couple years older than herself, a college student who was well on her way to becoming a professional racecar driver. Michiru was fascinated by the girl to say the least and she completely understood why there was such a crowd around her in the square. This realization made her feel a bit upset; she quickly clicked out of the browser and pushed back in her chair. She reached over and unzipped her backpack, pulling out her binder and books deciding to emerge herself in homework. It was a lot easier to not let thoughts of Haruka bother her if she let herself get absorbed in formula’s and equations.   
~  
“Dinner is good.” Her father says.  
“Glad you like it.” Michiru replies as she picks at her food. She’d finished her homework a while ago and ended up cooking to further distract herself. She does this a lot, but usually ends up putting leftovers into the fridge to eat for lunch the next day. Tonight her parents actually showed up, together oddly enough.   
“How was school?” He asks politely.   
“Good.”  
“Grades still up?” Her mother pipes in.  
“I’m the valedictorian mother, grades are great.” Michiru takes a sip of her drink then sets it back down.   
“I know, I just want to make sure. A lot of colleges are interested in you, and there are still a couple students who could knock you out of that position. So just keep it up.” Her mom gives her a serious look and Michiru feels her throat tightening, but she forces the best smile she can.  
“I will. So I have a swim meet this weekend.”  
“That’s no good.” Her mother frowns, looking over at Michiru’s father. “We’re both going out of town, aren’t we honey?”   
“Right.” Her dad pops in.   
“Well that’s okay.” Michiru mumbles quietly looking at her plate.   
“Next time we’ll make it.” Her mother’s reassurance isn’t all that convincing, a silence hangs in the air for a bit.  
“May I be excused?” Michiru asks standing up.   
“Of course.” Her mother says.   
Michiru heads back into her room, her homework is all done and without many options she finds herself lying on her bed. She looks up at the ceiling and wonders how many times she’s done this exact same thing. The years and years of this is has added up and it’s wore her out. She wanted change, she wanted to disrupt the pattern, she wanted something new, exciting, if not daring. She wanted to escape Toyko and if only for a short while, she wanted to go find the ocean.   
She lets out a heavy sigh, sitting up and glancing over at her computer. She stares at it for what seems like an eternity, contemplating what to do and then finally she decides. She stands up, walks over and sits down, clicking open the browser.   
This Sunday there’s a race at Suzuka Circuit, a moderately smaller race, nothing like the Grand Prix since it’s at the start of the season, but what matters is who is going to be in that race. And suddenly this idea seems like the best one she’s had in years.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michiru has a swim meet and then goes to the Suzuka Circuit for Haruka's race.

Michiru gets to school early in the morning on Saturday, heading straight to the locker room where many of the other girls are. She changes into her bathing suit quickly, stretching and yawning as they all hustle out with their bags and into the bus. It’s not a particularly long drive, but Michiru stays quiet most of it. She’s not really close with the other members on the swim team, but she sometimes gets involved with a bit of their chatter. This morning though isn’t one of those mornings, she stays quiet as she looks out the window and mentally prepares herself for today’s rounds.   
She double checks to make sure she has her sweatpants packed, as well as a sweatshirt. She then checks for her favorite towel, goggles and other necessities. She’s well aware the coach brings everyone snacks, but she still hides away a couple of granola bars in the side pockets of her bag, along with her water bottle that at the moment is filled with tea. She goes ahead and finishes that off, anticipating she’ll have a minute or two to fill up the bottle with water once they get to the meet.   
Usually they have about thirty minutes to warm up in the water before the actual competition part begins. There’s a long process of course, one involving checking in a lot of lines and getting numbers from spectators which they write on your arms or legs depending. It’s probably why the day seems so long, but Michiru enjoys swim meets. There’s so much going on and hey, competition brings out the best in her.   
After warm ups she heads to the first event she’s competing in, the 200 yard freestyle, something she of course is pretty good at. The first round goes by quickly; it’s just filled with moving around, diving into the water and pumping her legs. It’s a blur, being in the water, the slow parts of the day are when she’s just sitting around. So after her last event, getting her qualifying time scores, she heads to eat lunch with the team or at least the members who aren’t still competing.   
She shakes off the adrenaline rush, sitting at the table and is grateful for the sandwich Coach hands to her.  
“You did great on the time trials.” Coach says sitting next to her.   
“I think I pulled a little something in my left ankle, but it doesn’t seem that bad.” Michiru says, taking a bite from the sandwich.   
“Let me take a look.”   
Michiru shifts positions and rests her foot on Coach’s lap, she takes it and looks closely, moving it slightly and applying some pressure.   
“I think you should be fine, just be aware of it and don’t press yourself too hard. I know how you get about competition.”   
Michiru laughs, she moves her leg back under the table and adjusts her seat. She continues to eat, grabbing her water bottle and taking a nice long drink before setting it down.   
“We’re doing good overall aren’t we?” Michiru asks.  
“For sure, we should be heading to the next tournament in a couple weeks.”   
“Think we’ll make nationals this year?”  
“No doubt with you on the team.”  
“Yo Michiru good job.” Mica comes over and claps her on the back and then reaches and pinches her cheek. Michiru squints, and laughs a bit, used to this treatment. “To think you beat Miki’s time by a whole half a second, she’s Furious.”   
“I bet her coach is even more furious.” Coach adds and the three of them laugh.   
“Oh well.” Michiru murmurs, finishing her sandwich.   
“Well you knock em out kids.” Coach stands up and nods toward a group of adults, some spectators Michiru assumes, Mica sits in the seat Coach was in and eats her lunch. Michiru decides to stand up, not wanting to sit around too long.   
She goes into the hallway, there aren’t as many people as she walks down it, they’re in a decently sized school, one still smaller than the one she attends back in Tokyo though. She wanders through the halls looking at lockers and the wall decorations, but there isn’t much to look at. She keeps an eye on the clock, knowing that she’ll have to get back in good time for the last round of events. She is confidant her team is going to place good overall, this may not be a competition with lots of metals and trophies, but they’re well on their way to becoming champions. But maybe Michiru won’t be joining them on that, she wonders to herself. How long is she going to pursue swimming? Will she really stick it out through the rest of grade twelve? It’s a weird thought, she doesn’t hate it, but if she wants things to change doesn’t that mean giving up things she’s done her whole life?  
She doesn’t have more time to dwell on the thoughts though; she has to get back to compete.  
~  
When Michiru wakes up in the morning she lays in her bed for a bit before she realizes how late it is. Turning to look at her clock she sees it’s almost noon, a wave of panic surges through her. She slept in late, a lot later than she originally intended. Haruka’s race was going to start by the time she even managed to snag a quick shower, let alone get to the race.   
She jumps up and out of bed, taking a calming breath before heading to get ready. She showers as quick as she can, not bothering to dry her hair, she just pulls it up and into a ponytail before getting dressed. Since she’s in a rush, she grabs the first clean shirt she can find, throwing it on; she then slips on a pair of jeans before grabbing a light jacket.   
She then heads downstairs, pulling on a pair of shoes then heading out the door. As she walked down the street she tried to motion for a cab, this proved to be a bit of a task though. Finally a driver pulled over and Michiru got in.   
“To Suzuka Circuit please!” She said a little rushed.   
“On it.” He simply replied.  
Michiru could feel her heart pounding, more than that she could practically hear it. She was sure the taxi man could hear it as well. She was excited, more than that determined. She wanted to get to the tracks, sit in the bleachers as she screamed and cheered on with the rest of the crowd.   
The stop lights seemed to last a lifetime, the heavy traffic causing Michiru to be all the more anxious, but it didn’t matter. She knew it’d be late, but she’d still get to see the race. That mattered to her.   
When the cab pulled up to the circuit she paid the driver and got out. She noted how many people were crowded around the stadium. There was a large screen where two announcers were talking, lots of people pointed and stared up at it. Michiru stood on the sidewalk, also watching the announcers, but quickly walking forward. Not only were many people milling about, but there were booths with food and souvenirs from favorite racers and what not. Michiru wandered over to one of the food booths, realizing how thirsty she was. The line moved fairly quickly, she got bottled water and then decided it was time to head into the stadium. Of course after buying her ticket to her designated seat.   
She got her ticket, noting her section and seat number, then began shuffling through the masses. She finally found her seat and sat down.   
She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on or even what to do now. She was there, but not really. She ended up finding herself searching the vehicles on the track for the one that belonged to Haruka. It took a moment because the cars were going so fast, the crowd was also a little distracted, their loud roaring echoing all around her. The high energy was extremely exciting, but she just wished she knew more about race cars so she would even know what to cheer for.   
Her eyes became glued on Haruka’s car, it looped around the track many times and then she realized that Haruka must be in the lead. She went and glanced at the big screen on the opposite side of the stadium, similar to the one outside. The announcers were laughing to what she assumed was a joke she didn’t catch. As they wrapped it up, the screen flashed some stats.   
Haruka was in the lead. Michiru felt a sense of pride course through her and before she knew it she began cheering loudly.   
~  
There was a short break in the race and Michiru sat back in her seat. She felt as if she’d never hear or speak again. She’d finished her water a while ago and now just sat back in the stands watching as other people moved about. There was some show or event going on in the field but she wasn’t too interested in it.   
“I think you were the loudest fan in the whole section.”  
Michiru glanced over at the girl who was grinning next to her. The girl had dark skin, reddish cropped hair and big brown eyes. She was holding a thing of half eaten nachos in her lap and had a large soda in the cup holder. Michiru felt her face flush.  
“I didn’t mean…” She stumbled over her words.  
“I’m joking! You seem pretty pumped. Haruka Tenoh fan I take it?” Michiru let out a laugh.  
“I guess, I really don’t know anything about racing. This is my first time here.”  
“Whoa really?” The girl tilts her head, giving Michiru a bemused yet curious look. “Well you love it right? Dontcha?” The girl eggs on.   
“Yeah I mean it’s great, though I wish I knew what was going on.”   
“You’re in luck then! I happen to know a lot and I’d be willing to share some of that info with you, if you’d like.”  
“That’d be great and more than helpful.”  
“I’m Elza by the way.”   
“Michiru, nice to meet you.” They each shift, Elza offers a hand and Michiru shakes it politely.   
“So what do you want to know first?” Elza asks as Michiru thinks for a moment.   
“Well how about the basics?”   
~  
By the end of the race, Michiru has a good idea on how things generally go on the track. Elza has been more than helpful as well as extremely kind. They stand up to leave together, throwing away their trash and then leaving the stadium. Elza invites Michiru to grab a bite to eat and she graciously accepts. She isn’t used to spending time with people outside of school, so today is more than she could ask for.   
They walk away from Suzuka Circuit, the conversation drifts away for motor racing and toward other topics.  
“So how old are you?” Elza asks.  
“Eighteen, I’m a Senior over at Kenju Academy.”   
“Nice, I got to Mugen University. I’m a freshman there,”  
“Isn’t that the school-  
“Haruka is on the track and field team with me. She, as I’m sure you know…is extremely popular.”  
Michiru nods, finding herself amazed that Haruka does so much. It’s fascinating. She wonders to herself if she would have been more social growing up, that at this point she could have been like Haruka too. She then shakes her head realizing it doesn’t even matter.  
“I’m on swim team.” Michiru says.  
“Ooh! I knew it!” Elza exclaims, clasping her hands together. “You have that whole look going for you.” This causes Michiru to laugh.   
“I guess so.”   
They turn the corner and then head into a small café to eat. The food is almost as good as the company Elza provides. By the time Michiru gets home it’s late, she has Elza’s number in her cell phone and a lingering sense of excitement and happiness.   
There’s one thing for certain, she had a great dad and she suddenly had a feeling she would be finding herself spending a lot more time at the racetrack.


End file.
